A look at …. well, some random thoughts, after the jump ……….
But first: Top Comments appears nightly, as a round-up of the best comments on Daily Kos. Surely ... you come across comments daily that are perceptive, apropos and .. well, perhaps even humorous. But they are more meaningful if they're well-known ... which is where you come in (especially in diaries/stories receiving little attention).------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send your nominations to TopComments at gmail dot com by 9:30 PM Eastern Time nightly, or by our KosMail message board. Please indicate (a) why you liked the comment, and (b) your Dkos user name (to properly credit you) as well as a link to the comment itself.
Like some of my other colleagues here, I am a bit tapped-out for a major story that hasn’t been told more eloquently elsewhere. So, a few random notes.
THIRTY YEARS AGO last month, at the Toronto Sky Dome (today known as the Rogers Centre) there was an incident that highlighted a unique feature of this stadium with a retractable roof — a 350-suite hotel built into its north end. About 70 of the suites (more than $600/night during peak periods) overlook the playing field. A couple watching that night’s baseball game “apparently wearied of being spectators and opted for a more participatory sport - giving new meaning to the seventh inning stretch.” At the time, the hotel manager was asked if he was angry:
“I wish they'd come back so I could thank them. It certainly has created a lot of interest in the hotel, and in that room. Many people want to rent the same room”.
Nonetheless, “We are going to have people sign a statement that they will conduct themselves in a proper fashion” he said. Failure to do so could result in expulsion or even criminal charges.
ONE OF THE FUNNIEST satirical essays I ever read on British politics was this one written by John O’Farrell (in 2001) on the election of Iain Duncan Smith as leader of the Conservative Party. You need not be up on UK politics to get a chuckle:
And suddenly it was official; three out of five Tory members believe that the Earth is flat, that Elvis was abducted by aliens and that Duncan Smith has the best chance of leading them to victory.
When lunatics take over the asylum, they don't reassure everyone by announcing a bi-annual audit and getting the photocopier serviced. (Instead), they make the bloke who thinks he's Napoleon head of carpet-chewing and abolish Tuesdays.
So wearing his big badge that says "Lose Votes Now, Ask Me How!", Duncan Smith has appointed a shadow cabinet that is the logical extension of the collective madness that has seized the Tory party. "Who do you want as Tory leader, dear? I said, who do you want to vote for as Tory leader? No, you can't have Winston; he's dead, dear."
FIVE MONTHS IS A LONG TIME to have to pass until Election Day ….. dunno if I can quite make it. And if we achieve what (increasingly) I believe we will: something I look forward to is seeing Letitia James — the attorney general of NY State — launch some indictments (for those in Trumpland and maybe some he pardons on federal crimes). She has already threatened action on troops. Yet I can’t tell you how sad I was to learn that her predecessor Eric Schneiderman had turned out to be an abuser of women— since I had similar faith in him in 2016:
(The morning after the election) Schneiderman called a meeting. In the room were his senior staff and some of the bureau chiefs. There were tears. There were lawyers who couldn’t believe that Donald Trump—Donald Trump!—was about to become the next president of the United States. Schneiderman urged calm. Don’t just rush out and do. Take a deep breath, he told them. Let the moment wash over you. We can’t do everything at once, so prioritize.
Another mission …. included laying out new sanctuary city guidelines, and possible responses if the administration de-funded Planned Parenthood or the EPA. They also began to lay the groundwork to fill in as regulators in areas where the federal government might stop enforcing laws already on the books, from labor laws, to securities regulation, to clean water and clear air enforcement.
And he began to free up staff for what the attorney general’s office refers to internally as “Bet The House Litigation”—the kind of thing that would require a massive redeployment of the office’s resources, such as fighting a Muslim registry, or blocking an executive order to re-institute some kind of stop-and-frisk program.
It was becoming clearer to liberal America in the days after the election that any real resistance to Trump would have to come from the states, especially those that went big for Clinton. At David Brock’s post-election donor retreat in Florida, former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm introduced Schneiderman as “the dean of progressive AGs.”
HAIL and FAREWELL to the last person to draw a VA military pension as the child of a soldier who served in the Civil War, who has died at the age of ninety. Irene Triplett was born in 1930 to an eighty-three year-old Mose Triplett (whose wife was age thirty-four) and Irene had been drawing $73.13/month in a North Carolina nursing home.
IN THE MUCH TALKED-ABOUT essay in The Atlantic by Anne Applebaum— which I, too, endorse reading despite its length — I do have one addendum as to her comparison of Lindsey Graham vis-a-vis Mitt Romney (toady vs. non-toady).
In South Carolina (as in most bright-red states), Graham improved his chances of staying-in-office by becoming a lackey, if the polls can be believed.
Mitt Romney (as Charlie Pierce has often noted) can have his US Senate seat as long as he wants it. There are ardent Trumpists in Utah, but many more are wary of his anti-Muslim rhetoric/actions (as Mormonism still faces opposition from Christian fundies) and the anti-immigration, anti-refugee attitude runs contrary to the GOP governor (among other conservatives) in Utah.
Due (in part) to the presence of Evan McMullen on the Utah ballot, the Trumpster got only 45.54% of the vote in 2016 — his lowest % of the popular vote in a state in which he still did carry in the Electoral College. Add to that that Romney is not up for re-election until 2024 — methinks he is not running quite as big a risk.
I KNOW IT’S A BROKEN RECORD— still, I can’t get used to how often someone in the GOP can work diligently on a project and then be undercut by you-know-who.
For the scheduled RNC in Charlotte: the state was negotiating with GOP chair Ronna (Romney) McDaniel until …. you guessed it …. a Tweet.
The state and Republican National Committee, the convention’s formal host, had been negotiating in apparent good faith about a modified convention under COVID-19 — until May 25, when Trump issued a series of demands via Twitter. He ordered Governor Roy Cooper to guarantee a full arena for the convention, scheduled for August 24-27 at Spectrum Center. Cooper responded that he couldn’t, given the pandemic. From that point forward, the GOP demanded full capacity in the arena and in surrounding bars, hotels, and restaurants.
TODAY’S MEMORIAL SERVICE for George Floyd was quite moving (in the portion that I saw) and seeing that Joe Biden plans to attend his funeral in Houston next week is comforting. I truly have nothing to add to the public discourse that has not already been said (and more eloquently than I could).
I’ll close with a song written by the Italian jazz composer Piero Piccioni (written in 1971 for a Kirk Douglas movie of the same name, based upon a 1905 Jules Verne novel) and performed by the tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. I have told my family that whenever my time on Earth ends, that Light at the Edge of the World be played at some point: as it is both elegiac and yet hopeful. Perhaps this is my salute to George Floyd.
Now, on to Top Comments:
From elenacarlena:
Greetings! I nominate a comment in annieli's diary on BunkerBoy.
First, much thanks to the diarist for trying a different tack on the bunker theme than the usual B word. Second, every good fight needs a theme song, and I think the one in this comment by stevemb is a winner! Thanks!
Highlighted by cheryljj4:
In the front-page story about new developments in the murder of Ahmaud Abery— this comment by Jana on the subject of bad apples.
Highlighted by SeaStrike:
In the diary by lowkell describing the video of a declared future Virginia gubernatorial candidate speaking of erasing all white history— a Top Comment in context from Cmae.
And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening .....…
In the front-page story about the hearty criticisms (of you know-who) from the retired military brass— some interesting observations from argusx2002 (regarding uniforms that spawned a discussion) and IndieGuy (on the character of one of the Trumpster’s critics, Gen. John Allen).
And in the diary by JMillman about the neighbor who always had Trumpster banners, lights and flags on their fence …. until yesterday…… A Citizen makes an observation contrary to some prevailing wisdom.
TOP PHOTOSJune 3rd, 2020 Next - enjoy jotter's wonderful *PictureQuilt™* below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo.
(NOTE: Any missing images in the Quilt were removed because (a) they were from an unapproved source that somehow snuck through in the comments, or (b) it was an image from the DailyKos Image Library which didn't have permissions set to allow others to use it.) |
And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
1) Costs a lot to be this tasteless. by DRo +21012) How could anyone resist: … by dmhlt 66 +10612) Brain trust: … by gchaucer2 +10616) [embed] by Greg Dworkin +9818) We don’t. by Kerry Eleveld +9721) Inspection... by Crashing Vor +9423) Full statement: … by map +93